Commentary: Rosemont Mine Will Be Disastrous for Tohono O’odham Sacred Lands

Commentary: Rosemont Mine Will Be Disastrous for Tohono O’odham Sacred Lands
The mountainous area southeast of Tucson is sacred to the Tohono O’odham Nation. For thousands of years, our people have used these ancestral lands to reflect and pray. We gather medicinal plants and food, and bear grass and yucca for traditional basket-weaving. We have adamantly opposed building a copper mine on these sacred lands, which would destroy 50 cultural sites dating back to the Hohokam Period. This is our homeland; it is the resting place of our ancestors. http://bit.ly/2IRpFsT – Austin Nunez (Chairman, San Xavier District) in the Arizona Daily Star

Monument Advisory Committee Stacked with Opponents
More than a year after President Donald Trump slashed southern Utah’s Bears Ears National Monument, the Interior Department has publicly identified the 15 people it selected for the advisory committee that will provide guidance on managing the 200,000-acre reserve in San Juan County. Missing on the panel is anyone who championed Bears Ears’ original designation in 2016 or opposed Trump’s decision a year later to cut it by 85 percent, leaving out Cedar Mesa, Elk Ridge, Grand Gulch and many other places that five tribes wanted protected when they urged President Barack Obama to declare a massive monument. Meanwhile, the panel is stacked with staunch monument foes, starting with County Commissioner Bruce Adams, former Commissioner Rebecca Benally’s son Ryan and ranchers Gail Johnson and Zeb Dalton. http://bit.ly/2ITHwPF – Salt Lake Tribune

Regina Lopez-Whiteskunk and Alfred Lomahquahu to Speak on Bears Ears
Regina Lopez-Whiteskunk will speak on “Defending Bears Ears” at 7 p.m. on May 7, at Durango Public Library. Lopez-Whiteskunk, of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, will speak about her experience on the Intertribal Coalition that helped form Bears Ears National Monument in 2016, and offer her thoughts on the legal battle to defend its boundaries and protections. Lopez-Whiteskunk would like to start a conversation with the audience on the nature of tribal sovereignty and the use of public lands. She will be joined by fellow Coalition member Alfred Lomahquahu of the Hopi Tribe. This event is hosted by Indivisible Durango and Great Old Broads for Wilderness www.facebook.com/events/340353993267853/. For more information, contact Clint McKnight at 764-4204 or cmck3240@gmail.com. http://bit.ly/2ISEueC – The Journal

Commentary: My Perspective on the Lower Gila River Ethnographic and Archaeological Project
Aside from the documentation process, the sheer volume and quality of sites and artifacts was astounding. I remember thinking to myself, “All those times you drove past this place to get to San Diego and thought it was only a desert.” After that first week in the field, I began to gain context and attach meaning to our daily excursions and activities. Each night, the team sat fireside and spoke about the day, about the next day’s plans, and about the region’s ancient and more recent history. As the days became routine and I got more familiar with the documentation process, I began to see the bigger picture the project encapsulated. I had always loved the Sonoran Desert for its rugged natural beauty and now I was learning of the Peoples who had once called it home and whose descendants still do. I realized the landscape had another layer of beauty I had not been aware of, one that was just as mysterious and captivating. http://bit.ly/2UwIAvb – Skylar Begay on the Preservation Archaeology Blog

Casa Grande Ruins National Monument Changes to Summer Hours on May 1
As the heat of summer begins to dominate the Southern Arizona forecast, Casa Grande Ruins National Monument will begin summer operating hours of 9 am until 4 pm on May 1st through the months that the monument receives fewer visitors. In addition, the Monument will be close on July 4th to observe the Independence Day holiday. Casa Grande Ruins National Monument will resume extended seasonal hours of 9 am until 5 pm on October 1, 2019 as the temperatures begin to cool and visitation picks up. Directions and additional information are available on the Monument’s website, http://www.nps.gov/cagr, you may call (520) 723-3172, or follow us on Facebook by searching for Casa Grande Ruins National Monument. – Casa Grande Ruins National Monument News Release

Mimbres Pottery Exhibition and Panel Discussion at NMSU (Updated Information)
Spectacular pottery designed and crafted by people of the Mimbres Valley and surrounding areas from A.D. 1000 to 1130 will be on display at the American Indian Student Center at New Mexico State University from April 26 through Dec. 15 as part of the exhibition titled “Living In Sacred Continuum.” A panel of Native American artists will share interpretations about the pottery’s designs during a panel discussion from 1 to 4 p.m. Friday, April 26 at the American Indian Student Center. http://bit.ly/2ITLisj – Las Cruces Sun News

Reminder: Archaeology Café (Phoenix): The Greater Gila River
Join us as on Tuesday, May 7, from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at Changing Hands Bookstore, 300 W. Camelback Rd., Dr. Bill Doelle challenges us to think big with a presentation entitles “The Greater Gila River: Public Lands, Tribal Lands, and Our Connections to These Places.” Now home to nearly six million people, the Greater Gila River basin is tamed by dams and pumped such that stretches of its watercourses are usually dry. But it was not always this way. The river and its tributaries were once lifelines and travel corridors for diverse peoples of the southern Southwest. Tribal and public lands (National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, and others) make up much of the river basin today. Dr. Doelle will explore the relationships of modern groups, including today’s tribes, to these lands. The presentation will also be streamed on Facebook Live beginning at 6:00 p.m. at Archaeology Southwest’s Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/ArchaeologySouthwest/. http://bit.ly/2ULOFIh – Archaeology Southwest

Lecture Opportunity, Santa Fe
Southwest Seminars Presents Dr. John A. Ware, Social Archaeologist, Author A Pueblo Social History: Kinship, Sodality, and Community in the Northern Southwest; Founding Director, Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs; and Former Executive Director, The Amerind Foundation, who will give a lecture “Early Agriculture on the Colorado Plateau: Excavations at Lolomai Village, Black Mesa, Arizona” on April 29 at 6:00 p.m. at Hotel Santa Fe as part of the Ancient Sites Ancient Stories Lecture Series held to honor and acknowledge The Archaeological Conservancy. No reservations are necessary. Refreshments are served. Seating is limited. Contact Connie Eichstaedt at tel: 505 366-2775; email: southwestseminar@aol.com; web: southwestseminars.org

Lecture Opportunity, Alcalde NM
Mesa Prieta Petroglyph Talks: Janet MacKenzie presents “The Remote Area Recording Project.” MPPP Chief Archaeologist, Janet MacKenzie will present findings and insights from the Remote Area Recording Project, a project to record petroglyphs in the most remote parts of Mesa Prieta. Janet will also be honored as she retires from MPPP and presented with the 2019 Bice Award from the Archaeological Society of New Mexico! $5 Suggested Donation. Light Refreshments provided. Tuesday, April 30, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., at the Heritage Center – 848 NM-68. https://www.mesaprietapetroglyphs.org/mesa-prieta-petroglyph-talks—upcoming.html

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